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A Westland High School cheerleader and honor student, she died more than 17 years ago. Now
finally, after a DNA match, authorities have made an arrest in connection with her death.

Fifteen-year-old Jessica disappeared from a Weinland Park bus stop about 6 p.m. March 15, 1991.
Her naked body was found two days later in an isolated Madison County graveyard. She'd been raped
and beaten to death.

Recently, a convicted felon living in North Carolina was charged with sexually molesting Jessica
that day. Formally, the Madison County prosecutor charged Marvin Lee Smith Jr., 51, with unlawful
sexual contact with a minor. Other charges are expected, officials told those who were dear to
Jessica.

Smith was arrested in Burlington, N.C., and is in the Alamance County Jail awaiting an
extradition hearing April 30. North Carolina authorities said he should return to Ohio shortly
thereafter.

“We're glad that justice finally will be done,” Jessica's father, James Keen, of West Carrollton
said. He said law-enforcement officials notified him a few days ago of Smith's arrest. Jessica's
parents divorced when she was 3.

Smith's DNA was taken in prison after he was convicted in Franklin County Common Pleas Court of
two counts of rape, kidnapping and robbery in August 1991, just five months after Jessica was
slain. Smith served nearly nine years in an Ohio prison and was paroled in 2000.

During Smith's prison stay, at least four local law-enforcement agencies were investigating
Jessica's death.

Smith's DNA, taken some time after a 1996 Ohio law required certain felons to submit samples,
matched DNA authorities took from the crime scene. It was unclear tonight when the match was
made.

Jessica was a sophomore at Westland who loved to sing and compose piano music. She dreamed of
veterinary school at Ohio State.

Then she fell in love for the first time, her friends previously told
The Dispatch. Her boyfriend was older, a Westland dropout who'd had trouble with the
authorities.

After Jessica quit cheerleading and started skipping school, her mother turned to Huckleberry
House, which helps teens in trouble, for help.

Jessica stayed 12 days at Huckleberry House and was to return home the day after she
disappeared. She was last seen at a COTA bus stop across Summit Street from the teen shelter.

Crime Stoppers named the case the Crime of the Week twice and it was featured on the TV show
Unsolved Mysteries. Rewards were offered three times to anyone with information about the
case.

The story also circulated on several web sites, including one that Jessica's mother, Becky
Smitley of Dayton, responded to after authorities told her about Smith's arrest.